Positano—a vertical village dangling off the cliffside of the Amalfi coast—it sure does impress! Our boutique hotel hovering over the majestic blue water of the Mediterranean Sea offered expressions of kindness and hospitality that took our breath away. From the homemade breakfast enjoyed on our terrace to the fine suggestions on dining out (gluten free eating in Italy is delicious), the hotel staff’s sincere desire that we enjoy their magnificent town made our experience simply lovely. We could not have been more grateful to visit and meet these genuinely caring souls.
My girls and I made peace with the fact that temperatures are unseasonably hot in this region thus we had no choice but to dive right into sightseeing and beach hopping—more of the latter. The local folk’s pride in their culture really impressed us. On our first evening dinner on the main beach, the chef came by our table and shared stories about his visits to Boston’s famous North End where he has many Italian friends in the restaurant business. When he learned that Emma would be running in the upcoming Cambridge half marathon, he shared tales of his own race days and then brought out a signature Positano running jersey for her to wear in the race. (photo below) This type of kindness truly touched our hearts in a meaningful way.
On one particular day, I talked the girls into taking a tour with me. They were skeptical at first but ended up loving it! We saw1st-century AD Roman ruins (a maritime villa) located many stories underneath Positano’s main church—Church of Santa Maria Assunta, near the main beach. The thing that first delighted the girls about the tour was that it was cold underground, a welcome break from the overwhelming heat of the city where air conditioning is a rarity. Once inside, our small group was led by a knowledgeable tour guide from the MAR-Roman Archaeological Museum of Positano who took us through ancient tunnels and ruins recently excavated. We saw a really incredible 1st-century dining room featuring vibrant Pompeian frescoes and mosaic floors. We were told that this site was supposedly buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, much like Pompeii. It was such a cool experience. (See photos of blue and red rooms below.)
Further on in the tour, we viewed other ancient items in the church crypt including rosaries and crucifixes from pauper’s graves dating back to the 16th-century. I was struck by the similarity of the objects which these simple Christians used to lift their hearts and souls to God hundreds of years ago—so similar to my rosary (and perhaps yours) today. It made me think that no matter the timeframe in history we are all just trying to do our best each day—to live close to God is just one similarity as evidenced by these items used for prayer. (See photo below.) We head to Naples and Pompeii for our final few days. Stay with us as I’ll update you from home with the last blog. Ciao!
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